Hierarchical structures include nodes organized in parent-child relationships which are indicated by links between nodes. Additional links may also be part of the hierarchical structure. On a particular computer, for example, nodes may correspond to files and file folders, with the folders and/or files within a given folder viewed as children of the folder that contains them. Shortcuts may be viewed as examples of additional links which do not conform to a strict tree hierarchy but nonetheless form part of the hierarchical structure of files and folders. On a computer with multiple drives, each drive may also be considered a node, with each drive being the root of a tree hierarchy containing folders and files stored on the drive. A computer may in turn be a node within a larger hierarchy such as a computer network.
A user interface to a hierarchical structure may provide an indication of a user's current position(s) within the hierarchical structure, and may provide mechanism(s) for exploring the hierarchical structure by changing position and/or by displaying information about node(s) that are near a specified position. Navigation within a hierarchical structure may be accomplished in some cases using a textual interface, such as a command line or script interpreter. A user interface may also provide visual representation(s) of the hierarchical structure and the current position(s), to assist navigation and exploration of the structure.